The Supreme Court case between Western Australian farmers Steve Marsh and Michael Baxter opened a fresh can of worms after the ruling last Wednesday.

Because the Australian organic standard considers cross pollination to be contamination, the disagreement between the GM and organic sectors on the rules and legal protection of the respective industries has flared.

While GM foods are legal, the consumer demand for organic food is noticeable and the Australian Organic Market Report found 62 per cent of organic consumers bought organic because it was non-GM.

Australia is the only country with an organic certification standard that requires organic foods to be 100 per cent GM-free.

Australian Organic’s chairman Andrew Monk said the organisation would stand behind the Australian certified organic standard and the organisation wanted to see a review of the laws and codes of GM production.

He said increasing land buffer zones between properties and changing harvesting practices would help reduce genetic contamination risks.